UPDATED: All The Power’s Back On In Metro East

WOOD RIVER, Ill. (KMOX) – Word now from Ameren Illinois that power has been restored to customers in Wood River, Bethalto and East Alton.

OUR EARLIER STORY:

Thousands of Ameren customers in Bethalto and Wood River are watching the clock, and the thermometer, as they wait for their power to come back on.

“We are aware that our customers (without power) are uncomfortable at this time,” explained Ameren Illinois spokesperson Victoria Busch. “But give us a chance to do the work. We’re looking at an estimated restoration time of about 10:30.”

She told KMOX News that problems started around 6 am Thursday when a switch went out at a power plant that serves the Olin Brass plant.

At the height of the outage more than 7,800 customers were without electricity.

As of 8:15 am, according to Busch, more than half of those homes and businesses had been restored with the rest of the power expected to be back on no later than 10:30 am.